Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies

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Colorado Dust-on-Snow (CODOS)
With direct funding support from stakeholders, CODOS monitors the presence/absence of dust layers at 11 mountain pass locations throughout Colorado.

With those data, data from nearby Snotel sites, and weather forecasts, CODOS provides its funders with a series of “Update” analyses of how dust-on-snow is likely to influence snowmelt timing and rates during the snowmelt runoff season.

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The Center for Snow & Avalanche Studies serves the mountain science community and regional resource managers by hosting & conducting interdisciplinary research and conducting integrative 24/7/365 monitoring that captures weather, snowpack, radiation, soils, plant community and hydrologic signals of regional climate trends.
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     CODOS 2012 Updates > April 24th

April 24, 2012 Senator Beck Basin Update

This morning we've posted a new Update for our Senator Beck Basin Study Area, based on fieldwork conducted yesterday and on current Snotel and streamflow data.

Here in the Western San Juan Mountains we're seeing the old, very dirty, merged D8-D4 dust layer begin to re-emerge from underneath the 12-16" of clean snow that fell in two recent storms, April 14-15 and on April 19.  Very warm air temperatures and generally clear, sunny skies have hastened the ablation of that clean snow, and stream gauge data here show a strong surge in runoff over the past several days.  Streamflow data throughout the mountains show a similar surge in flows in recent days.  

Barring another major snowfall - not currently in the forecast - the merged D8-D4 dust should continue emerging to higher elevations and on shady aspects over the coming period, although cooler, unsettled, and showery weather will produce local variations in the rate of the emergence.  A sustained period of dry and sunny weather will result in the merged D8-D4 dust layer becoming extensively exposed at the snowpack surface, once again, throughout the Colorado mountains.  

CSAS will conduct another, and likely final, circuit in early May of those CODOS sites that still retain snowcover.

SENATOR BECK BASIN UPDATE for April 24, 2012

Chris Landry, Executive Director
clandry@snowstudies.org
Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies
PO Box 190, Silverton, CO 81433 USA
(970) 387-5080
www.snowstudies.org